Can social capital moderate the impact of widowhood on depressive symptoms? A fixed-effects longitudinal analysis

Abstract

Objectives

Widowhood is associated with increased risks of depression in the surviving spouse. We examined whether an increase in individual-level social capital mitigates the adverse impact of widowhood on depressive symptoms.

Methods

We used data from the 2013/2016 waves of the Japan Gerontological Evaluation Study of functionally independent adults aged 65 years or older (men: n = 20,853; women: n =16,858). Fixed-effects regression was applied to examine the potential buffering effects of changes in social capital on changes in depressive symptoms following widowhood among married people living with their spouse and/or others at baseline.

Results

Widowhood had a deleterious impact on depressive symptoms particularly among men who ended up living alone following their spouse's death. Fixed-effects models revealed that an increase in informal socializing and social participation might buffer the effects of spousal bereavement on depressive symptoms among men who became widowed during the first two years of follow-up and ended up living alone.

Discussion

An increase in structural social capital may mitigate the impact of spousal bereavement on depressive symptoms. However, the associations vary by gender, living arrangement, and time since widowhood. Intensive efforts should be directed toward connecting the vulnerable group, widowed men living alone, to sources of social capital.

Keywords:

• Widowhood
• living alone
• social participation
• depression
• depressive symptoms

Acknowledgements

This project was conducted with the support of the Takemi Program in International Health at Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health.

Disclosure statement

The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) KAKENHI Grant Numbers [JP15H01972, JP15H04781, JP15H05059, JP15K03417, JP15K03982, JP15K16181, JP15K17232, JP15K18174, JP15K19241, JP15K21266, JP15KT0007, JP15KT0097, JP16H05556, JP16K09122, JP16K00913, JP16K02025, JP16K12964, JP16K13443, JP16K16295, JP16K16595, JP16K16633, JP16K17256, JP16K19247, JP16K19267, JP16K21461, JP16K21465, JP16KT0014, JP22330172, JP22390400, JP22390400, JP22592327, JP23243070, JP23590786, JP23790710, JP24390469, JP24530698, JP24653150, JP24683018, JP25253052, JP25713027, JP25870573, JP25870881, JP26285138, JP26460828, JP26780328, JP26882010, JP20H00557]; Health Labour Sciences Research Grants [H22-Choju-Shitei-008, H24-Junkankitou-Ippan-007, H24-Chikyukibo-Ippan-009, H24-Choju-Wakate-009,H25-Kenki-Wakate-015, H25-Irryo-Shitei-003, H26-Choju-Ippan-006, H27-Ninchisyou-Ippan-001, H28- Choju-Ippan-002, H28- Ninchisyou-Ippan-002, H30-Junkankitou-Ippan-004], the Research and Development Grants for Longevity Science from the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED) [16dk0110017h0002, 16ls0110002h0001, JP20dk0110034]; and the Research Funding for Longevity Sciences from National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology (24-17, 24-23, 30-22, 20-19); Grants from Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST-OPERA: JPMJOP1831). The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the respective funding organizations.